Category Archives: Environment

A comment posted in response to an article on Boston.com that predicted yet another day of rainfall:

Now you know why solar panels are not exactly a sure bet for an alternative energy source. My 6KW setup has barely generated enough to keep my computer running. I do not dare get up on the roof to connect the other 4 KW I had installed this spring. Its too wet to work on anything electrical. Only around 80-90V dc, but enough to knock you off the ladder if you come in contact with it. Keep that in mind the next time somebody whispers renewables in your ear. Its a hobby up here, not an energy source.

Posted by Shr_Nfr July 1, 09 05:02 PM

Knowing what a 10kW solar system (installed) would have cost, I don’t feel so bad about my investment into a deserted swimming pool anymore 🙂

When I grew up in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a noticable shift in public opinion away from support for traffic-enabling policies towards support for traffic-restricting policies. This manifested itself in numerous construction projects all over the continent with the objective not to build something, but to “unbuild” (Rückbau). Communities began to reclaim space in residential areas from traffic by narrowing streets, adding islands with trees and plants, raising cross walks, adding speed bumps, building bike paths, and introducing and rigorously enforcing lower speed limits.

The term used for this type of road redesign was traffic-calming – “Verkehrsberuhigung”.

Speed limits in areas that were redone in such a fashion were generally 20 mph (30 kph) or less.

This page on the Austrian Greenpeace site has a very powerful flash tool. Move the slider back and forth to compare sets of 2 images of different glaciers from the early 1900’s and today. What an eye-opening and drastic reminder of where the world is heading.